Report: The Immigration Dirty Dozen

Twelve of the Most Outrageous Statements about Immigrants in the 2010 Election

The 2010 mid-term campaign season is shaping up to be the most vicious, vitriolic election cycle in recent memory. The issue of immigration is a perfect example. Distortions, lies, and stereotypes dominate the airwaves when it comes to immigrants and Latinos. From threats of violence against immigrants to calls for mass deportation, candidates across the country are unleashing a torrent of hate speech that is both alarming and un-American.

Who’s the worst of the worst? To be honest, it was hard to choose. Here’s a dozen of the most outrageous candidate claims thus far, plus a couple honorable mentions. Consider this the Immigration Politics 2010 Wall of Shame.

“I’m not sure that those are Latinos in that commercial. What it is, is a fence and there are people coming across that fence. What we know is that our northern border is where the terrorists came through. That’s the most porous border that we have.”

“They ought to be armed and if warned leaflets dropped all over Mexico says that we will shoot to kill if anybody crosses and be serious about this and if they do that then there won’t be anybody killed.”

—October 14, 2010, during a debate, explaining what he feels the National Guard should do to protect the border

“The majority of them in my opinion and I think in the opinion of law enforcement is that they are not coming here to work. They are coming here and they’re bringing drugs.

— June 15, 2010, during a Republican primary debate, on undocumented immigrants

“Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert either buried or just lying out there that have been beheaded.”

— June 27, 2010, during an appearance on a local television show. As the Arizona Guardianreported days later, “officials with six county medical examiners offices in the state, including four from counties that border Mexico, say they have never heard of such attacks.”

“The Mexican government, along with President Calderon and the bordering governors that interact with us, they do not want our borders secure. I mean, they have made it very, very clear…I believe that he believes that he is helping out the federal administration and they are looking at it in a political mode to bring in newly registered illegal immigrants to register to vote.”

–television ad, September 2010. The ad was removed from YouTube after a copyright claim from Getty Images, which owned this photograph; Getty protested that the unpaid use of the image for political purposes was illegal and misleading, since the original photograph was of three Mexican farmers in Mexico.

8. BRIAN SANDOVAL, gubernatorial candidate, NV (R)

“My children don’t look Hispanic.”

—July 2010, during an interview with Univisión Nevada, when he was asked how he would feel if his children were stopped on the street and asked for their papers under a law like Arizona’s SB 1070 (which he supports). Univisión Nevada news director and El Tiempo columnist Adriana Arévalo wrote that Sandoval answered “with pride in his voice.”

“We’ve all heard of anchor babies. We have something unique to Rhode Island, and they’re called anchor embryos.And what it is is a policy that we have in the state of Rhode Island — if you’re an illegal alien woman and you’re pregnant and you come to Rhode Island, you go to the Department of Human Services — the first thing you have to do is tell them that you’re an illegal alien and you’re pregnant and the Department of Human Services will offer you, do you want Blue Cross, United, or Neighborhood Health.”

Sixty-six candidates for federal office who signed the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC) candidate pledge

“I will use the full power of my office, including impeachment if necessary, to insure the Executive Branch secures America’s border immediately and begins to adequately enforce the existing immigration and border laws of the United States.”